Jakarta needs more trees

Your correspondent Robert Kelly makes some pertinent points in his article entitled Rolling back Jakarta's unhealthy urban desert(The Jakarta Post, Aug. 6). The green areas that still exist in greater Jakarta really need to be maintained whether they are part of existing parks e.g. Taman Mini or tree lined streets such as those in Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta.

It is depressing to see the state of parts of the Senayan Sports Center, not to mention the growing number of gaps in the magnificent rain trees that line Jl. Sudirman. To make matters worse, when replanting does occur, there seems to be a tendency to plant decorative palm trees, or faster growing but short varieties.

In contrast, when Kebayoran Baru was laid out as a satellite town of Jakarta, its landscape architects took a fifty year view for their tree planting.

Recently, there have been efforts by the city authorities to upgrade certain public spaces, often to good effect. The park around the National Monument (Monas) and the general appearance of government buildings in the area is a credit to the authorities. It would constitute a fine legacy if, as Kelly suggests, the Jakarta administration extended this effort and embarked on a program of tree planting throughout the city. This is even more urgent in view of the introduction of much needed mass transit systems, which are bound to put further pressure on the city's trees. WILLIAM DANIEL Jakarta